(July 2011) - Anna Goodman Hoover, a member of the UK-SRP Research Translation Core (RTC), joined representatives from other RTCs and Community Engagement Cores for the "Community Engagement Opportunities with the NIEHS Superfund Research Program" panel at the US Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Community Involvement Training Conference (CITC) on July 18th.

Organized and moderated by NIEHS's Beth Anderson, this session highlighted the SRP's successful incorporation of community engagement into its university-based grant program. The panelists and audience members jointly explored ways to integrate EPA's community involvement activities and SRP engagement efforts. In addition to Anderson and Hoover, presenters were Kathleen Gray from the University of North Carolina's SRP and Denise Moreno-Ramirez from the University of Arizona's SRP. The session included a brief overview of UK-SRP RTC members' work in the multi-method Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant Stakeholder Future Vision Project, as well as a session-specific application of real-time polling technology used in that project.

As communications liaison for the UK-SRP RTC, Hoover coordinates communication-related social scientific research initiatives that link environmental concerns with risk and public communication processes. She also develops research projects and programs intended to further the bench-to-bedside translation of environmental health research outcomes into policy, practice, and ultimately public health, through the development of theory-based, methodologically-rigorous communication interventions at the researcher, governmental, and/or community levels.

The 2011 EPA CITC brought together more than 400 people from EPA and its federal, state, tribal, and local partners who plan and implement environmental community involvement, partnership, stewardship, outreach, and education programs.